SC Freiburg started the Europa League season with a win. Christian Streich’s team prevailed against the Greek league leaders Olympiakos Piraeus.
Roland Sallai, Vincenzo Grifo and Maximilian Philipp scored SC Freiburg to a 3-2 (2-1) win at Olympiacos Piraeus. Ayoub El Kaabi scored twice for the hosts.
Freiburg had to do without Michael Gregroritsch at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in the 2:4 defeat against Borussia Dortmund was substituted injured. Vincenzo Grifo replaced him in the starting line-up, Lucas Höler replaced the Austrian in the center of the attack.
Freiburg took control in the first few minutes, but almost fell behind early on. After an individual mistake by Grifo, Ayoub El Kaabi had a free shot from ten meters, and central defender Matthias Ginter saved on the goal line (6th minute). In contrast to the hosts, the sports club consistently took advantage of the first mistake. Roland Sallai ran a back pass that was too short and gave Olympiacos goalkeeper Alexandros Pascharakis no chance – 1-0 (9th).
Latte saves for Freiburg
Ten minutes later, Breisgau were lucky that referee Allard Lindhout (Netherlands) allowed the game to continue after Sallai hit Santiago Hezze with his elbow just outside his own penalty area. The Argentine had to be replaced after a long injury break. Shortly afterwards, ex-FCK professional Kostas Fortounis took a corner directly at the Freiburg goal, the ball hit the crossbar (26th). The stadium was there immediately, the Greek fans whipped their team forward and turned the stadium into a cauldron.
The hosts were now in control, Freiburg struggled to gain more control of the game over longer periods of possession. This worked quite well at first, but somewhat surprisingly the equalizer came in the 40th minute. After a cross from the right side, Philipp Lienhart lost sight of El Kaabi, who scored from close range to make it 1-1.
Turbulent final phase
Saved in injury time of the first half Noah Atubolu for the sports club when he parried against Giorgos Masouras (45th + 3) after a back pass from Kenneth Schmidt that was too short.
But it wasn’t over in the first 45 minutes. On the other hand, Höler fed Ritsu Doan in the penalty area. The Japanese took the ball and was then hit on the foot by Panagiotis Retsosa – a penalty for the guests. Grifo stepped up, didn’t let the laser pointer attacks from the stands bother him and converted into the bottom left corner (45th + 5th). The lead at the break was somewhat fortunate for Christian Streich’s team.
Piraeus pushes, Freiburg resists
The second section continued at high speed. After Atubolu was unsure, Iborra put the ball on the net (48′). On the other hand, Ginter failed with his header past keeper Pascharakis (52′). Both teams acted with high intensity, but also lost a lot of the ball. The result was a somewhat hectic encounter in which the home team pressed for an equalizer. In particular, Freiburg couldn’t get the left side of the defense under control.
Nevertheless, the Freiburg defense initially withstood the pressure. But then El Kaabi was there again. The Moroccan pushed a Fortounis cross into the net in front of Atubolu (75′). The game was now open. Piraeus wanted more, and Freiburg were also on the offensive again. Nicolas Höfler, who last saw red against Dortmundbut placed his long-range shot too high (79′).
In the 86th minute, substitute Maximilian Philipp gave SC the lead again. The attacker took a corner extended by Ginter, hit a hook and scored with a powerful left-foot shot to make it 3-2. Piraeus responded with furious attacks, but in return failed at the side netting. In stoppage time, the sports club routinely brought home the narrow victory. The bottom line is a win in which a draw would have been a fairer result. Last year, Freiburg won their Europa League game in Piraeus, became group winners and then made it to the round of 16. This time, however, they found it much more difficult than in the confident 3-0 victory a little over a year ago.
Next game against West Ham United
Freiburg’s other opponents in the preliminary round are West Ham United (England) and Backa Topola (Serbia). For the next game, the sports club welcomes the reigning Conference League winner West Ham (October 5, 2023, 6:45 p.m.). Next Sunday, Freiburg will be visiting Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga (September 24, 2023, 5:30 p.m.).
